Monthly Archives: April 2015

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It’s been another busy week in the world of Formula E. Here’s a summary of what’s new!

Could Valencia host an ePrix?

A Singapore based multinational is toying with the idea bringing Formula E to Valencia.

ARC Resorts has expressed a desire to open a golf resort and a six star hotel to support its plans of creating the ‘best urban resort in Europe’. Part of this project would involve a bi-annual Formula E race that alternates with Formula 1.

Other than the action-packed 2012 race, Formula 1 races at Valencia were, with overtaking nearly impossible and the track causing severe field spread throughout the grid. Could Formula E provide an exciting race there?

Spark to bring updated brakes and suspension to Formula E

Spark Racing Technologies have revealed plans for upgrades to the braking and suspension to be used in the 2015/2016 Formula E season.

Following a series of suspension failures, most notably at the Buenos Aires ePrix, Spark were forced into bringing suspension upgrades to the Miami ePrix, which so far seemed to have worked well. Following feedback for Formula E drivers, Spark Technical Direction Théophile Gouzin, confirmed that further upgrades were planned for 2016.

‘We are constantly improved the car’s mechanical components in order to meet ctreet circuit requirements’, said Gouzin.

The comments follow on from a three day test at the Mayny-Cours earlier this month, where several different systems and parts were tested in an attempt to manage disc temperature and other components.

Formula E at Indianapolis?

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, we might just see Formula E compete at the legendary American Motor Speedway.

The series has so far stuck to racing on temporary street courses to promote the use of electric cars in city environments. Whilst a race at a purpose built track goes against the vision of Formula, Indianapolis Speed Presdient Doug Boles has confirmed that ‘introductory conversations’ have taken place.

‘The series is in its infancy, but it’s absolutely worth paying attention to. We want to understand what this is about and what their business model is’.

Could it happen? Whilst it looks unlikely, America remains a key market for electric vehicles and the success of the Long Beach and Miami rounds will certainly interest circuit owners in the states.

The FIA have revealed that the same 20 drivers will race at the Monaco ePrix, as raced in Long Beach and Miami. It’s great to see some consistency in the driver line-up as the series heads to Europe for the final leg of the championship.

For the third race in a row Vitantonio Liuzzi will race alongside Jarno Trulli, Scott Speed will partner Jean-Eric Vergne at Andretti and Charles Pic will sit alongside Long Beach ePrix winner Nelson Piquet at China Racing.

Liuzzi said: “I am really happy that I got another opportunity to race with the Trulli team, and I’m extra happy as we’re starting to find a nice curve of development, it’s going better and we’re learning the car, the energy consumption, saving and recovery and we’ve had some good steps forward.

“Monaco is an amazing track. It’s a race that I’ve always loved and always been very competitive at so I’m really looking forward to this event. I think that now is the time for our team to get some points. I’m really positive and once again I’d like to thank Jarno and the whole team to give me trust and faith, and I hope to bring back some points for them, I’m really ready for it.”

Before being promoted out of a race seat and into a managerial role at Dragon Racing ahead of the Miami ePrix, Servia was the only driver to have finished every race in the top-10.

He had a solid race in Beijing to claim seventh. In Putrajaya he was surprise polesitter (once Prost’s penalty was applied) and led the early laps before Bird took over the lead. A slow stop dropped him out of podium contention and he finished seventh.

He backed up this form with ninth place finished in Punta Del Este and Buenos Aires before handing his car over to Loic Duval for Miami.

Having started the season with Andretti and achieving a solid fourth place for them in Beijing, it seems quite bizarre that he was not retained by the team for the subsequent races. Instead he was picked up by China Racing for Miami.

It was a tricky return for Pic and he never matched the pace of team-mate Piquet; coming home a lap down in 17th place.

Long Beach was not the best of races for the Frenchman either, after hitting Jarno Trulli at the final corner (and bringing out the second safety car), finishing 16th in the end.

Having been the last team to join the grid, suffering from technical issues might not have been a surprise for the team.

Things improved in Putrajaya where Trulli was running in the top-three before his contact with Piquet and resultant penalty. The good form that was evident carried over to Punta Del Este, where he took fourth place after having been a solid top-six runner throughout.

Trulli suffered a gearbox issue in Buenos Aires qualifying and thus starting dead last; he was not really a factor in the race and ended up in 15th place.

Overheating issues affected his chances in Miami where he finished a lap down in 15th.

Long Beach saw the Italian retire from the race after being hit by Charles Pic at the final corner.

In Beijing he was one corner away from winning. In Putrajaya he was taken out of a top-10 position by Montagny.

In Punta Del Este before being hit with two penalties – for excessive energy consumption and speeding in the pits – he led briefly during the pitstop window, but ended up stealing only the final point for 10th on the line.

In Buenos Aires he received yet another penalty for speeding in the pits which dropped him down from the lead to eighth. He was penalised in qualifying at Miami for excessive energy consumption – and finished 12th overall.

Long Beach was another race in which the German failed to score any points, with an 11th place finish.

As with his team mate Heidfeld, luck has been in short supply; he scored points in Beijing with a steady run to ninth. Putrajaya brought a 12th place finish. In Punta Del Este he was set for a decent top-10 finish when he ran wide over a kerb and broke his suspension.

In Buenos Aires he scored a single point for 10th place, but in Miami it was a return of his misfortune with a gearbox issue ending his race.

Sarrazin managed to pick up one point in Long Beach with a 10th place finish.

21st Takuma Sato (Amlin Aguri) – 2 points, best result DNF (Beijing)

Sata has so far only made a Formula E cameo appearance, filling in for Da Costa at the opening round in Beijing. His running was hindered by technical issues, but the team managed to get the car running again briefly – during which time he turned up the wick to set the fastest lap – before retiring for good.

22nd Salvador Duran (Amlin Aguri) – 1 point, best finish 10th (Miami)

Duran was a surprise addition to the series in Punta Del Este and in his first race he never really threatened the points.

In Buenos Aires, he crossed the line in the top-10 but had comfortably exceeded his energy consumption – due to a broken radio – and so was excluded from the race. He finally scored his first points with 10th in Miami.

However, Long Beach brought disappointment after crashing out on lap 27.

Ho-Pin Tung had three tough races in which he failed to score a point. Numerous collisions with the wall meant he started from the pitlane in Beijing. In Malaysia he started 15th and finished 10 seconds outside the points in 11th.

Drafted into the family team for the Buenos Aires race, he drove sensibly to 12th place. This was meant to be a learning experience for Miami; however a change to the IndyCar calendar meant he was unable to take part.

The youngest driver to have competed in a Formula E race, Brabham has received two last-minute call ups to drive for Andretti. The first came in Putrajaya, where a spin resigned him to 13th. In Punta Del Este he was on course for a decent points haul, but he misjudged the quick final chicane and crashed late on in the race.

In the two races that the Brit contested she placed 15th – in Beijing she picked up a 57 second penalty for crossing the white line on the pit exit, and in Putrajaya she tangled with Cerruti for which she received a 23 second penalty and was once again classified 15th.

Whilst on holiday in Florida he received the call to race for Trulli in Miami, with virtually no preparation; he even had to borrow a helmet off of his team boss which was hastily modified to represent his colours. Even so, he did very well to qualify 12th. He ran on the verge of the points early on, but heating issues struck in the second half of the race causing him to drop back to 16th.

The Italian had a reasonably better result in Long Beach claiming 13th place.

The FIA Formula E championship heads to London for a double header season finale on the 27th and 28th June.

Today the official Formula E website has announced that tickets for the London ePrix will go on sale on Friday May 1st, for subscribers to their Formula E newsletter, and on general sale from Sunday 3rd May.

Tickets will range in price from £20-£200, which has come as quite a surprise to fans who have been used to hearing ePrix’s giving providing free admission, or prices around the £10 mark; as the championship aims to attract as many people as possible in its inaugural year.

It should be noted that it is yet to be confirmed whether the London tickets will encompass both London ePrix’s, on the Saturday and Sunday.

Having missed the first two rounds of Formula E being a Formula 1 driver for Toro Rosso at the time, the Frenchman has taken to the series quickly. He made an astounding debut, claiming pole position in Punta Del Este and running in second place during the race, challenging for the win, only for broken suspension to deny him late on.

He was part of the leading pack once again in Buenos Aires, mixing it in the fight for the podium before eventually coming home fifth.

Miami brought yet another pole position for the Frenchman which was converted into an early race lead, but issue with an overheating battery forced him to slow in the second half of the race and he was classified 18th.

Long Beach brought his best result so far with second place after starting from sixth.

It has been a tough campaign for the Spaniard so far; he has shown glimpses of pace but has struggled to put a strong weekend together for a variety of reasons.

After leaving Beijing without any points to his name, he got his championship properly underway in Putrajaya where he set the fastest lap of the race on his way to ninth.

His form further improved with back to back fourth places in Punta Del Este and Buenos Aires.

However, energy consumption issues hampered his progress in Miami, causing him to finish in 11th place and out of the points.

At Long Beach Alguersuari fell victim of the same crash that affected team-mate Bird and was forced to drop places. After completing one of his best car changeovers he entered the second stint of the ePrix in twelfth. Able to have a clean race, staying clear of incidents that troubled other drivers and with strong energy management, he had enough power in his second car to gain four places in the final laps to finally finish in eighth.

Senna has suffered a frustrating time so far in Formula E; broken suspension forced him out on the first lap in Beijing. He pulled off the first ever FanBoost-assisted overtake as he ran strongly in Putrajaya, only to crash out in the closing stages as he pushed on for the podium.

He finally got some points in Punta Del Este with fifth place, which he then followed up with a competitive run to finish fifth again in Buenos Aires.

Unfortunately, his suspension adversary struck again in Miami, forcing him out of the race early on.

In Long Beach, Senna made use of stopping one lap later than most of the frontrunners to climb from the lower reaches of the top 10 – the Brazilian initially had to fight with Nico Prost when he came out of the pits but the Frenchman’s race fell apart.

Abt is another driver that has had a frustrating start to the season – which is clear from the disparity in points to his team mate – but his season finally came to life in Miami where a strategy gamble took him to within two laps of victory; but ultimately was rewarded with is first podium finish.

The German crossed the line third in the opening round but had consumed too much energy and was hit with a penalty that dropped him to 10th. Technical problems in Putrajaya forced him to pit early – this meant he led for a while during the pitstops but also that he was powerless to resist his more charged up rivals, causing him to be in 10th when he took the flag.

Points for fastest lap was all he came away with from Punta Del Este, with Buenos Aires being another “what could have been” race after spinning whilst attempting to overtake Prost.

Abt was one of the first frontrunners to pit in Long Beach, but his strategy did not pay off as he lost out on second place to Jean-Eric Vergne during the stops. He was then removed from the leading battle altogether when he was given a drive-through penalty for using too much power, dropping him out of points contention and finishing 15th overall.

A solid start in Beijing saw Karun a strong top-10 runner throughout, going on to finish fourth; whilst another strong showing in Putrajaya resulted in him finishing fifth. However, since then things have not have gone so well for Chandhok and the Mahindra team.

Four consecutive non-points finishes followed. A thirteenth place finish in Punta Del Este, broken suspension sent him crashing into retirement in Buenos Aires, and in Miami the team was simply off the pace resulting in a 14th place finish. This was also evident in Long Beach where a relatively quiet race ended in a 12th place finish.

The team have a lot to do to get themselves back in the running for Monaco.

Speed was another late comer to the series, making his debut at Miami – though he did test for Andretti during pre-season – but his stunning debut still came as a surprise given his lack of race experience.

After being blocked in two of his qualifying runs he felt 10th on the grid was unjust of his true pace and proved this in style in the race, battling his way up the order he was up to second on the penultimate lap and gave it everything to chase down Prost, who resisted the onslaught.

However, Long Beach brought vastly differing fortunes for the American, who brought about the first safety car period after he flew over the chicane and into the wall on lap 4 and ending his race.

During the midseason break before Formula E embarks upon its European leg, we’ll be taking a look back at how the championship has gone so far. In this feature will be looking at how it has gone for the drivers.

Part 1: The Championship Top 6 and Race Winners

Many people were dubious when the idea for an all-electric racing series was conceived in 2012, but now just over half way through the inaugural season, Formula E has certainly not disappointed.

Twenty-nine drivers have been placed behind the wheel of the cars, with teams constantly chopping and changing their drivers when necessary; with cases such as Antonio Felix da Costa who missed the first round due to DTM commitments, or conversely Franck Montagny who has been banned from racing for two years, having been found to have a derivative of cocaine in his system.

Regardless of that, the season and the sport as a whole has been met with much positivity – notably due to there being six different winners (from four different teams) in the first six races. Those drivers are: Lucas di Grassi, Sam Bird, Sebastien Buemi, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nicolas Prost and Nelson Piquet Junior; and these are the same six drivers that we currently find sitting at the top of the driver standings. The championship is wide open, with numerous drivers having realistic title possibilities and just about every one of the 20 cars that make each of the race starts being capable of winning.

However ultimately, there can only be one champion. Let’s take a look at how the Top 6 have preformed thus far…

1st Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT) – 75 points, 1 win (Beijing)

Having been the winner of the first ever Formula E race, di Grassi relinquished the lead of the championship in Miami – where over-heating problems caused him to slow late on and drop to ninth place. Only to return to the top at the next outing in Long Beach.

The Miami race came as the second disappointing result in a row for the Brazilian, who started the season with three straight podium finishes – he admitted that in Beijing he was fortunate to inherit the victory following the collision between Heidfeld and Prost.

During qualifying in Malaysia, he hit the wall and started 18th – but he drove an incredible race to move to second by the flag.

Di Grassi lost out at the start of the race in Punta Del Este, but a tactical drive saw him finish third.

When Sebastien Buemi hit the wall in Buenos Aires, di Grassi had victory in the bag – only for a broken suspension to send him crashing out of the race.

After team-mate Daniel Abt was penalised in Long Beach, di Grassi made use of the clear track to prevent original pole sitter Buemi (before his demotion to 10th) attacking for the final podium position.

Piquet’s debut to the season held minimal impact to say the least – running in the top-10 throughout the race to ultimately take ninth. His team’s title-challenging potential was first made evident in Putrajaya, where a strong run to a probable second was ended when Jarno Trulli squeezed him into the wall.

In Punta Del Este he bounced back in the best possible way and lead for the first time after making an excellent start. However, he tapped the wall in a bid to break free from the chasing pack – making him vulnerable as the stint went on. But he fought back strongly after the safety car to take second place.

In the chaotic race in Buenos Aires even Piquet was surprised to take third place after he dropped off the lead lap during a confusing safety car period. In the dramatic closing stages he was one of the fastest cars on track which allowed him to snatch third.

Piquet and his China Racing team implemented a superb strategy in Miami – pitting at least two laps after most of their rivals – which would almost certainly have brought victory but for a delay in the pits. In the end he came home in fifth, setting fastest lap in the process.

At the start of the race in Long Beach the Brazilian caught Daniel Abt by surprise into the tight chicane on lap one and from there he was in control of the race. His early lead was wiped out twice due to the safety car but Piquet was able to build the gap again at each restart. He also survived a mid-race scare when he misunderstood a radio message telling him to coast more into corners; however, he thought he was being told not to coast so started pushing, putting more strain on his battery.

Ultimately it was a touching and notable race victory, taking the win 35 years after his father’s maiden Formula 1 victory at the same venue.

3rd Nico Prost (e.dams-Renault) – 69 points, 1 win (Miami)

Having set pole position, Prost headed into the first race of the year at the top of the standings, however a last corner collision with Nick Heidfeld resulted in a dramatic crash that quickly went viral – but more importantly, in terms of the race itself, cost him a certain podium position.

As a result of his misdemeanour, he received a 10-place grid penalty, which meant he would have a lot of work to do when race two came around. He managed to minimise the loss in the best possible fashion, claiming pole position, meaning he started only 11th once the penalty was applied. He managed to work his way through the field during the race to finish fourth.

Prost had yet another difficult race at Punta Del Este where he was penalised for excessive energy usage; regardless of this, six points for seventh place was his final result.

At Buenos Aires, Prost was out qualified by teammate Sebastien Buemi for the first time. In his arguably least competitive showing of the season, luck came his way in a dramatic race in which he managed to stay out of trouble to take second place; his first Formula E podium.

The Frenchman was back on form in Miami by qualifying on the front row once again. Although he lost out to Sam Bird early on, his strategy won out for him in the end. In the closing stages he passed Daniel Abt, before defending from debutant Scott Speed over the last few laps to claim his maiden Formula E victory.

Prost had a race to forget in Long Beach which completely fell apart when he was given a drive through penalty for hitting Jerome d’Ambrosio at the hairpin on lap 21. It completed a bad day for Prost who started on the front row, but was bullied down the order after the first restart. He complained after the race of a lack of powe; something that was backed up by team-mate Buemi, who said that battery issues robbed him of straight-line speed.

Having dominated pre-season testing, Buemi went into the first race as favourite; only for it to be a race to forget, as crashes and technical issues meant he was an early retirement.

These struggles carried over to Putrajaya where his team unwittingly sent him out to qualify underweight, condemning him to a last row start. However, his true form emerged for the first time as he battled his way up the order to take third.

Having fought race long with Jean-Eric Vergne in Punta Del Este, Beumi benefitted from his rival’s late retirement to take victory. This feat should have been repeated in Buenos Aires, where Buemi was fastest in every session as well as dominating the race, until he misjudge a corner and hit a wall – breaking the suspension in the process.

Juxtaposing this, he was a rather anonymous figure in Miami, finishing out of the points in 13th.

Buemi had claimed pole position for Long Beach but was demoted after a qualifying infringement and started the race from 10th. Like team-mate Nico Prost he too complained of a lack of power at the end of the race.

5th Sam Bird (Virgin Racing) – 52 points, 1 win (Putrajaya)

After marking the start of his campaign with a slightly fortunate third place in Beijing, Bird underlined his championship credentials in style in round two. An excellent move on Oriol Servia took him into the lead and once ahead he simply drove away from the field in the most dominate performance of the series’ short history.

His luck seemed to have run out dramatically in Punta Del Este. After a crash in qualifying, he started on the back foot and his race ended in the wall too.

He was back amongst the frontrunners in Buenos Aires, but unfortunately lost time during the safety car period – he did set the fastest lap as he charged to seventh by the flag.

In Miami, a great start allowed him to pass Prost for second place on lap one and chase down leader Jean-Eric Vergne before pulling another great move. However, his race was all but ruined when communication problems meant he did not pit as planned and he was forced to limp around for one more lap with his battery flat. He managed a recovery drive to finish eighth.

Bird was hit by the e-dams of Buemi on turn one of lap one in what was a wheel-to-wheel section of the race, leaving Bird with no room to avoid the action. Suffering damage to his front suspension he boxed immediately to change into his second car and push for the fastest lap of the race with his first car left irreparable. Using his FanBoost, Bird did achieve the fastest of the race, but had it snatched away from him by Prost towards the end. Ultimately technical problems saw him having to retire.

Da Costa’s DTM commitments meant he missed the season-opener in China, but when he finally got behind the wheel in Putrajaya he took the team’s first top-10 finish with eighth place.

In Punta Del Este a suspension failure ended his outing early, but the team was confident that at the subsequent test it had made a breakthrough.

This was confirmed when he went on to win the Buenos Aires ePrix, admittedly benefitting from Buemi and di Grassi’s retirements, but nevertheless it was a strong performance by team and driver.

This good form was backed up by fifth place in Miami and seventh place in Long Beach. But the return of DTM on the horizon means that a clash with concluding double-header in London will result in da Costa missing the final rounds – alluding to the idea that he is fighting for wins rather than the championship.

A number of Formula E drivers took to the track last weekend to compete in the World Endurance Championship 6hrs of Silverstone.

We’re able to bring you a WEC cap signed by not one, but two of the FE drivers who took part. Sam Bird– FE Virgin Racing driver, Malaysian ePrix winner and winner of the LMP2 Class at the 6hrs of Silverstone – and Vitantonio Liuzzi – of FE Team Trulli and former F1 driver.

For your chance to win, simply fill out the form below, including your answer to the following question:

Question: Which team did Sam Bird race for in the 2015 WEC 6hrs of Silverstone?

Name(required)

Email(required)

Answer(required)

We will announce the winner and contact them via email on Friday 17th Apil.

Best of luck!

Be sure to follow the site and join us on twitter @formulaediary #DriveTheFuture

Formula E is continually looking for feedback in order to help this brand new and evolving motor sport series grow into the best show it can be. Whilst few would argue the series has so far done a fantastic job and far exceeded all expectation, there are areas in which it can improve.

During this mid-season break before Formula E embarks on its European leg, we have decided we would like to gauge fan opinion on various topics. We will be compiling poll results and a range of comments and tweets that we receive on these topics, into posts that we hope to present to the sport for their consideration.

The first area that we are asking for your feedback on is…

Graphics and Information:

On-board

On-board graphics are a topic that tend to come up on our twitter feed during races. Some fans are generally happy, whilst we’ve heard others say they find them a bit confusing and cluttered. This means something more can be done. We’d like to hear what your opinion is on them and what changes you would make, if any. Spacing; Colour; Size; Do you know what is being displayed? Is it being displayed enough?

So far these provide fans with the information on: driver position, timing gaps, FanBoost, battery percentage, a circuit tracker and when a driver-team radio message is being aired.

Is there anything you feel is missing or would like to see, perhaps based on your experience of watching other motorsports? Maybe you are new to motor racing and feel something in particular would help your viewing? Maybe you would like one of the existing race graphics to be displayed more regularly, or expanded upon; such as the team radio displaying who is talking etc…

Because of the length of time cars spend in the pit lane in Formula E things can often get a little confusing as the race order begins to shuffle. Pit Stop durations themselves can last longer than a racing lap and when you have cars pitting on different laps, it can take up to several laps before the true racing order is finally revealed again. How do you feel you are able to keep track of Formula E cars around the pit stops?

The sensational Long Beach ePrix may have only been a few days ago but we’ve had plenty of news following the race. As always, here’s your weekly update.

Changes To Fanboost?

Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag is currently talking to the FIA about the feasibility of changing the rules surrounding Fanboost. The current rules allow for fans to vote for their favourite drivers up to ten minutes before the start of the race. Agag wants to allow voting to go into the first ten minutes of the race to give the audience a chance at impacting on the results live.

‘We are trying to convince the FIA to allow us to keep voting for the first ten minutes of the race, rather than stopping ten minutes before the start of the race. This will give the fans a bigger influence on the race as it happens’, said Agag.

His comments follow the Long Beach ePrix where Nelson Piquet was one of three drivers to receive the fanboost vote, although as he led the entire race he was never required to use it. The rule changing would allow fans to vote for chasing drivers, although the unsporting nature of the proposed change could be an issue.

‘The FIA are not so keen on the idea of Fanboost because they say it is not sporting. They told us that the fans will alter the result of the race and they were not happy about that’.

Before the season started there were concerns that Fanboost could spoil the spectacle, with many expecting fanboost to guarantee passes; but so far this has not been the case. The 30kW boost has assisted several drivers to get past slower cars during the opening rounds but its effectiveness has not ruined the spectacle in any way and in some cases drivers have not even used the boost.

Piquet Jr Holds Off Using Fanboost

Nelson Piquet was so dominant in Long Beach that he never used his Fanboost, he revealed post-race.

Interestingly, Piquet cited overheating issues as the reason he did not use the controversial boost system. ‘I didn’t use it because I didn’t want to mess things up – It’s one more variable on the car. I know I should have used it but with the battery overheating a little bit I didn’t want to have any chance of something going wrong’.

The comment highlights the infancy of the battery technology used in Formula E. The impressive technology has been suspect to overheating issues at a number of races so far and other cars have encountered problems when using the fanboost power, including Jean-Eric Vergne at the Uruguay ePrix.

Teams and drivers will be hoping that cooler air temperatures at the European rounds will provide the batteries with adequate cooling, allowing for the fanboost to become an asset and not a liability.

Formula E and Pit Lanes

In past Formula E races, car swaps were performed in each teams’ temporary garage, away from the traditional pitlane. The Long Beach ePrix marked the first time that drivers did not return to their temporary garages as they instead performed the switch in designated bays in the IndyCar pitlane.

According to Autosport, Alejandro Agag has revealed that the Long Beach system could be used at all future races. ‘We had a lot of discussions, about a year and half before we launched the championship, about how we wanted the garage and pitlane to work’, said Agag.

The switch to the Long Beach style of in-race car swaps didn’t require major work to be carried out, and Agag has suggested ‘maybe we will do this everywhere from next year. It also allows us to give more accessibility to the paddock for fans, which gives better experience’.

Fans that attended the Donington Tests last summer will surely agree with Agag, as the chance to see cars in traditional pitlane offered superb viewing to those sitting in the grandstands opposite the start-finish straight.